The Talk About The Ring
by messersmontana
Summary: This is the talk about the ring. Zane goes looking for Jo and finds her alone at Jack's house.


The Talk About The Ring

This story came to me when Zane kissed Jo at the end of I'll be Seeing You. This is the talk about the ring. Zane goes looking for Jo and finds her alone at Jack's house.

I know I already wrote another story, but it went a whole different way than this was going. I'd like to see either story be how the next part of the season go, lol. This is my story that I'm dedicating to Zane and Jo's love for each other. Jo's childhood that I'm using is what I made up since we don't know too much about her childhood. I got some of the info from Wikipedia, the rest I came up with.

As usual, if I owned even a part of this show or the characters...Jo wouldn't have been so sad this season. She and Zane would be planning their wedding.

Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka

Jo was sitting on the sofa, not really paying attention to the TV that she'd turned on when she'd gotten home. Home, it really wasn't home to her. Her home had been destroyed when Larry's rocket had crashed into it. So, she was living with Carter, Zoe, SARAH and sometimes Andy.

SARAH was closed up with Andy right now, so she wouldn't be bothered by questions for now. Carter was spending the night over at Allison's tonight, so he could keep an eye on her. Zoe was out celebrating with Zane, so she basically had the house to herself for a while.

Zane, she wished he'd never kissed her earlier. It just made matters worse for her and her heart broke all over again. If it was anyone but Zoe, she wouldn't hesitate to try to figure a way to be with him. But this was Zoe, and she was like a little sister to her. She could never hurt Zoe.

Jo jumped when her cell phone rang, she looked down and saw that it was Zoe. She really didn't feel up to talking to anyone right now, so she let it go to voice mail. A few minutes later, she got a text message from Zoe. She picked up her phone again and looked at the message.

_'Going to spend the night at Pilar's tonight. Tell dad that I'll call him in the morning. Heard you weren't feeling well, hope you're feeling better. Night. Z' _Was what her message said.

Joe smiled at the message, Zoe always cared for everyone else...including her. She felt that she had to make sure Zoe never found out that she had feelings for Zane. She'd just have to make sure that she was never around when Zane came to see Zoe.

There was a knock on the door and she looked over at it, not getting up. She almost didn't answer it, but if she didn't SARAH would. Then Jo would be stuck with not only the person at the door, but SARAH and Andy too. She got up off the sofa and answered the door. Zane was standing there when she answered it.

"Zoe's not here Zane, she's spending the night at Pilar's house." She said as she tried to close the door.

He stopped it with his hands. "I didn't come to see Zoe, I just dropped her off at Pilar's house. I came here to see you Jo." He said as he walked by her and over to the sofa.

She sighed and closed the door before she followed him to the sofa. "I'm not in the mood to fight tonight Zane. Is there anyway we can do this another time?" She asked him.

He looked up at her and motioned toward the sofa, to have her sit down. "Not really. I told you that we were going to talk about this. So, I'm here to talk about how you got my grandmother's engagement ring, and I'm not leaving until we talk about it."

She sat down at the other end of the sofa and turned to look at him. She still didn't know what to tell him about the two of them in the other time line, so she stalled. "Why did you take Zoe to Pilar's instead of bringing her home?"

"Because she asked me to drop her off there after I told her that I couldn't see her anymore, and I just wanted to be friends with her. Then I told her that I kissed you and you kissed me back in the Sheriff's Office." He explained.

She paled when he told her what he'd said. "How did she take it? Is she okay, or should I go talk to her?"

"She's fine, in fact she told me to drop her off at Pilar's and go find you." He said.

"Are you sure she's okay?" She asked, still unsure if his break up and the kiss wouldn't hurt Zoe.

"Yes, I'm sure. She never even batted an eye at me telling her that I just wanted to be friends. She told me that she understood and she'd been trying to figure out a way to tell me the same thing. It seems she met someone at the lake the other day and really likes him, and he's closer to her age and smart too." He told her.

She smiled knowing it sounded just like Zoe. "At least she won't hate us then."

"No, she doesn't hate us Jo. In fact she told me to tell you that she doesn't hate us. She really knows you, doesn't she?" He asked.

She nodded and relaxed a little, folding her legs in front of her as she sat sideways on the sofa. "Her hating me is the last thing I ever want, she's like the little sister I never had."

"I didn't know that Lupo. I know nothing about you. You're usually a closed book and don't let anyone in. This is the first time I've ever heard anything about your personal life." He said.

"Oh, I'm sure Vincent or anyone else has told you plenty about me. Vincent and SARAH are the two biggest gossips around town." She commented.

He shook his head. "No, you sealed your file so that no one knows anything about you Lupo. I'd be surprised if Carter knew anything about you. I'm a really good hacker, and I couldn't even hack into your file." He told her and right away realized he'd admitted to trying to hack her file.

She looked shocked. "You hacked my file?"

"No, I said I tried to hack your file. I couldn't get anything about you from anyone, not even Carter. So, I hacked into the GD computer and tried to find out about you, but I couldn't get anything. That was two years ago when I first got here and wanted to impress you." He explained.

"So, what do you want to know about me?" She asked, hoping it would keep him from asking about the ring.

He thought about it, and finally knew what to ask. "Tell me something about your childhood."

She nodded, she could do that and it was safe. "My mother left my father when I was eight. I have three older brothers...Mark, David, and Tom. My father, brothers, and me all went to West Point and into the Army. Because I grew up in an all male home, I had to learn to survive. My brothers taught me how to take care of myself. I am who I am because of them." She told him.

"Wow, I always wondered why you were so...you. Your brothers and the Army trained you well, and you can take care of yourself." He commented.

"There is a softer side to me too." She said, taking slight offense at his comment.

He now looked surprised. "Really? Tell me about the Jo Lupo."

"When my mother was still around, she'd make costumes for my school plays. I love dancing, all kinds of dancing. I learned from her, she was a wonderful dancer. Ballet is my favorite, and at one time I wanted to be a ballerina. Then my mother left and everything changed. Dancing became my escape from reality. I danced alone in my room when I needed to escape the harder things in life." She explained to him.

"I'm sorry things were so rough on you Jo Jo. But it's one of the reasons you're the survivor you are. Those experiences made you the person you are today." He said.

"If it weren't for Sheriff Cobb, I might not be here at all. He and my dad went way back, and he offered me a job when I left the Army. I've been in Eureka ever since." She told him.

"Sheriff Cobb?" He asked.

"Yeah, he was the sheriff of Eureka before Carter showed up. He was crippled in an accident and had to retire, leaving the job opened for Carter. I hated Carter at first cause I wanted the job, but he's the perfect person for the job. If you tell him I said that, I'll kill you." She told him, smiling, as she looked down at her hands.

He smiled at her. "Your secret is safe with me."

She nodded and looked up at him. "Carter and Zoe are the closest to family I have here in Eureka. I don't know what I'd do if I lost them."

"I don't think you have to worry about that." He told her and knew that now was the time to ask her about the ring. "How did you get my grandmother's ring Jo? I called my mother before I came over here. She still has it in her jewelry box, but this is the same ring. Can you explain it to me?" He asked as he held up the ring she'd thrown at him.

Jo looked at the ring in his hand and wanted it back. She knew that she needed to tell him something, but what she didn't know. Yes, Henry had told Grace about the time travel and the other time line, but he knew he could trust her. Jo wasn't sure that she could trust this Zane like she could the one she'd lost.

Zane could see the internal battle waging inside, just by the expressions on her face. He could tell that she was arguing with herself about whether to tell him the truth or not. Sometimes he could read her like a book, like now...but there was a time when he couldn't do it. That was before Founder's Day.

Jo wished that she could talk to Carter or Allison at that moment. She was so tired of being the only one who had no one to turn to in this time line. Carter and Allison had each other, Henry had Grace, and Fargo had all of them. Only she was left alone, without someone to confide in and vent to.

He couldn't take the silence any longer. "Come on Lupo, you know you want to tell me. I saw it on your face after I kissed you and I can see it on your face now. Just get it off your chest and tell me. How did you get my grandmother's ring?"

She really did want to tell him, but could she trust him, she hoped that she was doing the right thing. "You gave it to me." Was all that came out.

"I gave it to you? In what universe?" He asked her not for the first time.

"Not in what universe, more like an alternate time line." She replied.

"An alternate time line? Well it's closer to what I'd figured earlier. So, the five of you are from an alternate time line and Grant is what? The person who brought you here?" He asked her, trying to wrap his brain around what she'd told him. He noticed that she still wouldn't look at him.

"What I'm about to tell you Zane, you can't tell anyone. You have to promise me that you won't say anything Zane. We could all get into trouble, including you." She told him.

He didn't understand how he could get into trouble. "What do you mean, including me?"

"They'd say that you were an accomplice for not turning us in, unless you do turn us in. Then we'd all be sanctioned, and that could mean imprisonment, or worse...death." She replied.

He wasn't sure if she was just trying to scare him so he wouldn't still want to know what was going on. "I promise not to say a word to anyone but you. No one will ever find out about this from me."

She finally looked up at him. "What I'm about to tell you might sound crazy, but it's true. I'm not a scientist and can't explain what I didn't get myself, but it's true." She said.

"Okay, you have me convinced. Of what I don't know yet, but I do believe you so far. So, tell me what's going on Lupo." He told her. "You can start with what we were to each other in the other time line."

She took a deep breath. "Shortly after you were brought to Eureka, we started dating. I wasn't ready for another relationship. I've had a few bad ones. You just wouldn't take no for an answer. We had a really bad first date." She explained.

"Why was our first date so bad?" He asked.

"I'll tell you, but you're going to have to let me talk without interruption. I need to get this out before I change my mind." She said.

"Okay, I'll be quiet." He promised.

"On our first date, we met at Cafe Diem for Sunday brunch. You said something smart, which made me feel dumb and I walked out on our date. But you made it up to me on our second date and we started seeing each other." She went on to explain. When he opened his mouth to say something, she shut him up with a look.

"We dated for a couple of years and our relationship had it's ups and downs, mostly ups. On Founder's Day, when I got to the Sheriff's Office, you were waiting for me in the cell and proposed to me with your grandmother's engagement ring...that ring. I didn't know that it was your grandmother's ring until you told me yesterday." She said, pointing at the ring in his hand.

"So, we're engaged in the time line you came from?" He asked.

"Not exactly. I froze and didn't get the chance to say yes. You stormed out and when I went looking for you, my cell phone rang. As I answered it, all of a sudden I was in the middle of a military camp. I'd been transported back to Eureka 1947." She told him.

"Wait a minutes, time travel is impossible." He said.

She gave him another look and he held up his hands. "It may have never been proved, but it did happen. In the other time line, Kevin was working on the bridge device that Einstein and Grant had been building in 1947. They could never get it to work, but some how Kevin did. That's how we ended up in 1947. Doctor Grant and Henry used our cell phones to bring us back to 2010. The only problem was, we ended up in this time line instead of our own." She said.

"Did you ask Kevin how he did it?" Zane asked.

"No, because the Kevin in the other time line was autistic and this Kevin wouldn't know what the other Kevin did. But it's not just his fault that we ended up here, we kind of had a hitchhiker come back with us...and that's what changed the time line too." She explained.

"Grant is Doctor Trevor Grant, isn't he?" Zane asked her, not surprised.

"Yes, and that's why his file read like it did. Fargo made his file up and changed his name to Charles. At first we tried to go back and then the bridge device was totally destroyed. That's when we had to face it, this was our new and only time line. But if anyone ever found out that we broke time travel protocols, then we're all screwed." She looked back down at her hands.

He took this as a sign that he could start asking questions. "So, what changes are there in this time line? I mean besides that the other Lupo was a major bitch and we never got together." He asked her.

She looked back up at him and he could tell that she was fighting the tears. She cleared her throat so she could talk. "Well, Henry and Grace had just met each other before Founder's Day, and here they're married. Fargo wasn't the head of GD, Allison was, and the Archimedes statue is bronze here and in the other time line it's granite. Carter and Tess Fontana had broken up and she was working in Australia. And finally, I was still working as Carter's deputy instead of head of security for GD."

"Really? That's a big difference. What about Andy, was he head of GD security?" He asked.

"No, he'd taken over as sheriff after Carter was fired, but when Carter was sheriff again, Andy took off somewhere. I wasn't paying attention, I was just glad he was gone. There never was a head of security for GD in the other time line. Carter always took care of anything that Stark or Allison needed done there." She explained.

He thought all of this over in his head. It was a lot to take in, but mostly he kept coming back to the two of them. "So, we were together in the other time line, huh?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we were. That's why I have been acting different than the other Jo." She replied.

"And that's why you told me that you'd marry me in the jail on Founder's Day?" He asked.

"Yes Zane, that's why." She replied.

"ell from what I gather, you answered the proposal and this ring belongs to you. It's all you have from the other time line, I'm guessing." He said.

"No, I also have a picture of the two of us in my wallet. It was taken just after you came home from your month trip to the Arctic." She told him.

"In the other time line, was I affected by the fungus in the ice?" He asked her.

"Yes, and the picture was taken a few days after you were cured. We were so happy that day." She told him, fighting the tears again.

He leaned forward and looked into her eyes. "Can I see the picture Jo?" He asked.

She got up and walked over to the stairs. "It's in my desk upstairs." She told him.

He got up and followed her up the stairs and into her room. She was sitting at the desk in the corner and he walked over to her. "Can I see it Jo?" He asked again.

She opened the drawer and pulled out her wallet. She opened it and behind her security badge, she pulled out a photo...handing it to him. "I know it's small, but I wanted to carry a picture of us together in my wallet. The larger picture was on my bedside table in the other time line."

He took the photo and looked at it. He stared at the other version of him and could see the love he had for her. Other than that, he looked just like him...well the other version of him looked happier than he'd felt in a long time. It kind of scared him to know that this Zane had conquered his fear of commitment and opened his heart to her. "You both look so happy and in love with each other."

"We were and I miss that so much." She said and he could hear the heart break in her voice.

He could see how all of this had affected her. She looked sad, tired, and heartbroken. He handed the picture back to her then took her hand. "Come here." He told her as he pulled her into his arms. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he felt responsible anyway.

Jo closed her eyes and let herself enjoy being in his arms, even if it was only for this moment. This was something she really missed, just being held in his arms. She let him move her over to the bed and he sat down, still holding her in his arms. She started to pull away when he started laying down with her.

"Don't fight me Jo, I'm not trying to do anything but hold you. You look tired and I want to help you rest and relax. Just let me lay here with you and hold you while you sleep. I promise I won't try anything." He told her as he laid down, bringing her with him

She laid down in his arms and it felt like old times. "This feels so good, I've missed just laying in your arms."

"I'm sorry Jo, I wish I could make it up to you, I really do. All I can do is promise to be here for you." He whispered.

"Zane, you can't go making promises that you won't keep." She said.

"I'm going to keep this one Jo. I can't say I'm in love with you, cause I don't know what love really is. But I do have feelings for you that I've never had." He told her.

"So, what are you saying Zane?" She asked him.

"I'm saying that I want to date you, woo you, and court you. I know it's corny but I do. I want to get to know you Jo. Can I do all that, will you let me?" He countered.

She yawned and smiled. "I'd like that Zane, but I want to get to know you too." She replied.

"That's fine, I like that idea. Now try to get some sleep, and I'll just lay here and hold you." He promised.

She nodded and was soon asleep, the best sleep she'd had since Founder's Day. Zane soon fell asleep too, with her in his arms.

Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka Eureka

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks for reading and please review.


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